Early morning fire at Irla mall; no casualties

At least three shops located in a mall at Irla, Andheri (W) were destroyed by fire that broke out early on Saturday morning. No casualties were reported in the incident, which took place exactly a week after a massive fire gutted the Sara-Sahara shopping complexes in south Mumbai.

Saturday’s fire at Prime Mall originated on the fourth floor of the complex located in busy shopping lane at Irla. The fire brigade received a distress call at 7.58am and it took the them over two hours to bring the fire under control, fire officials said. Casualties were averted since the incident happened early in the day before the mall opened for business. The fire brigade had to employ seven fire engines and two tankers to douse the fire.

“The shops were stocked with clothes and garment. Although the cause of the fire isn’t known yet, we are ruling out external agents. Even though our inquiry is yet to be complete, we suspect it could be due to a short-circuit,” said an official who was a part of the fire-fighting operations.

After last week’s fire at south Mumbai, BMC chief Subodh Kumar had directed the fire brigade to conduct inspections at all markets to check for any illegal alterations and constructions to the structure, which could make it vulnerable to a fire. Importantly, the inspections will not look into the implementation of, or the lack of fire safety guidelines at the markets.

Saturday also saw another fire at a 11-storeyed apartment in Saki Naka. The blaze that broke out on the fifth floor of Sagar Apartments was doused within a short while. Initial investigations have revealed that the fire was caused when a washing machine in the house caught fire.